RiceWatch: Game 6, at Packers

Here's the breakdown of Rice's action from the Packers game. Note: the yardage is where Rice catches the ball in relation to the line of scrimmage:
  1. 2 yard out. Man coverage by Eugene Robinson. Ball hits Rice's hands, he misses it, it somehow bounces off his shoulder pad, and Rice is able to haul it in with one hand. Al Michaels: "Only Rice can make a play like that." Later called a "remarkable catch." Truth is that it should have simply been caught instead of the juggling act. Dives forward under the tackle.

  2. Incomplete 13 yard in across the middle against the zone. Rice sticks out one hand and fails to make the catch on a very catchable pass. No replay is shown.

  3. 11 yard out. Man coverage. Goes out of bounds.

  4. Incomplete 20 yard streak. Man. Incorrectly termed "double coverage". It's not even pure man coverage. Rice is bumped at the line, then the DB drops to zone.

  5. 14 yard cross. Zone blitz. Grbac chased out of pocket and finds Rice crossing with him. Pass behind, Rice makes a good catch, spins, and dives forward. The announcers talk about "over the middle" but it doesn't meet the typical definition of over the middle-- it was an extended route because of the scramble.

  6. Incomplete 11 yard cross against zone. Rice drops the ball, first blatant drop of year. Announcers quick to come to his defense "even the very best will..." blah, blah, etc.

  7. Incomplete 25 yard fade. Man.

  8. 7 yard out against Tyronne Williams. Spun and thrown down hard. Gifford: "Nobody does that better than Jerry Rice." What, beat a rookie DB?

  9. 15 yard cross for touchdown against zone. A flag is thrown just in case the 49ers didn't score. Grbac has 4 seconds to wait and throw it. Called a "superb" catch. Superb? Good catch, but nothing suberb.

  10. 12 yard fade for touchdown. Beats Newsome. Perfect pass. Again, a "just in case" flag. We would like those that taped the game to review this play carefully, because this may not be a TD. Rice bobbles ball, puts one foot in, the other foot out of bounds. They actually show the replay myriad times, but the announcers don't even question it.

  11. 9 yard curl. Zone/blitz (man over Rice blitzes and he's picked up by 41). Tackled. Bobbles ball again.

  12. Incomplete 7 yard out. Man by Doug Evans.

    Last January, the Packers dominated the 49ers with their defensive strategy. Afterwards, Rice promised that they would return to the "49ers offense"; in other words, back to the short stuff.

    But once again, the Packers took Rice out of the short game. Only 1 of the 12 attempts to Rice was under 5 yards, by far a season (and possibly career) low. This is a tribute to the Packer strategy that we've been urging for many years: man up Rice at the line of scrimmage and neutralize the West Coast Offense advantage.